No, it had nothing to do with '08 elections. It was a fundraiser for a local community radio station. Organized and brought to us entirely by volunteers. Presented at a local high school theater.
Arlo Guthrie came to town, and performed for three hours to a packed house.
I felt incredibly privileged to be in the audience last night. Born in 1960, I grew up listening to him, and, of course, to his dad's songs. Folk music was my first musical love, and I've never left it behind.
Last night he sat on stage and talked to us as if we were sitting on his front porch. He sang, he played the harmonica, the guitar, and the piano. He told stories. He kept us in laughter, and in tears, the whole time. He was calm, laid back, humble, and projected a simplicity, and a joy, to us that was irresistible.
Most of the evening, and the music, was non-political. It wasn't a political fundraiser, and there is more to the man than politics. I have attended many great live performances, of many great performers in my lifetime, but I can honestly say that I have NEVER felt such an overwhelming love for a performer from an audience before. Many in the audience were old enough to remember him from the 60s, and they brought their families with them. I had 3 generations of family there, myself: my mom, myself, and my 30 yo son.
Of course, one of the biggest thrills of the evening was "Alice's Restaurant." This audience needed no encouragement, singing it LOUDLY and enthusiastically "as it came around again on the guitar." He somehow made it current, and relevant, 43 years after he first sang it at the Newport Folk festival.
He said many things worth thinking about last night.
He spoke about the time, 40+ years ago, when the nation was so divided, and pointed out the current parallels. Then he said that it took him some years to realize that, now and then, there were really only two kinds of people: those that gave a damn, and those that don't. He said that you find both kinds of people on all sides of every issue, and that, in the end, he found that he had more in common with the people that care than with those that don't, whether you agree on the issue at hand or not.
Words of wisdom.
He ended the evening with this little song, and I'll end my post with the same:
My Peace
My peace my peace is all I’ve got that I can give to you
My peace is all I ever had that’s all I ever knew
I give my peace to green and black and red and white and blue
My peace my peace is all I’ve got that I can give to you
My peace, my peace is all I’ve got and all I've ever known
My peace is worth a thousand times more than anything I own
I pass my peace around and about ‘cross hands of every hue;
I guess my peace is justa ‘bout all I’ve got to give to youWords by Woody Guthrie
Music by Arlo Guthrie
Words © 2003 Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.
Administered by Bug Music
Contact The Publisher
Woody Guthrie Publications Inc c/o Bug Music
7750 Sunset Boulevard / Los Angeles, CA 90046
Web site: www.bugmusic.com
Edited to add a youtube link for "My Peace:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRSoQHmr360
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